Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
IV. Jet Set Willy 128 (JSW128)
Games using John Elliott's JSW128 game engine for the 128K Spectrum
3. The Time Hole
Author: Edward Martland
Year: 2000
Special Edition: 2000
Bugfix: 2001
Language: English
The Time Hole was the first of three JSW games released by Edward Martland between 2000 and 2003. It was launched in June 2000, with the Special Edition following in December of the same year, and a bugfix of the SE in January 2001.
GAME PREMISE: Willy was deep in slumber when suddenly he cried out, "Ah! NO! The FEET!" In his dream, he found himself in a dark place, surrounded by countless feet. Willy, a nervous child with an intense fear of the famous foot from Monty Python, had developed a deep-seated emotional complex over the years. No matter how hard he tried to escape, he was drawn inexorably toward the feet. He kept falling deeper and deeper into a pit, hurtling toward certain doom at the toes of a particularly menacing white foot. Just as he was about to be crushed, he awoke with a start. Disoriented, Willy wondered why he was in the bathroom. As he glanced around, he recalled a comic book he had read when he was seven. The unsettling realization struck him—he was caught in a time rift. Striving to remain calm, he began to formulate a plan. The machine he had purchased from that peculiar market vendor came to mind; surely, it could solve this problem. However, the challenge of reassembling it loomed large, as the last party he hosted had scattered its parts throughout the house. The prospect of another frantic search, especially with those strange creatures still roaming about, was hardly appealing. Willy regretted ever letting that scraggly Matthew help design his house. But there was no choice—he had to retrieve the machine's components and escape the time rift before it consumed everything. His fate is now in the player's hands...
Edward Martland initiated the project partly because he observed others creating games and felt compelled to try it himself, driven by a reluctance to be left out. Additionally, the idea of editing games intrigued him, and there was little else occupying his time. He began working on the game in mid-1998, using the JetSet Willy Editor (also known as JetSet Editor) by Paul Rodes. In 2000, he transitioned the project to John Elliot's JSWED and began utilizing the JSW128 game engine. Edward created a number of his own guardians but also borrowed sprites from other JSW and MM games, as well as from "Henry's Hoard" and "Dynamite Dan".
The theme of a time rift wasn't Edward's original concept, but it turned out to be an excellent explanation for the game's rather disjointed house layout, complete with teleporters and other oddities. The author considers many of the rooms to be whimsical creations, loosely tied together as part of a coherent concept. The biggest annoyance for him in the game is the number of rooms made purely to link one idea to another. Edward also believes that many of the less engaging rooms appear in the latter half of the game. This is likely because many of his original ideas were exhausted when it was still a 48k game. By the time the game was extended, his inspiration had waned, or he lacked the motivation to develop new ideas.
The game uses Hacklevel 6 of the JSW128 game engine.
The information below concerns the final version 2.0 of the Special Edition of the game.
Number of edited rooms: 131
Number of items to collect: 255
Bugfix needed after original release? YES
Official bugfix released: YES
Spare lives at the start: 7
Completable without loss of life? NO
Lives which need to be sacrificed to complete the game: 1
(A life has to be sacrificed to collect the item in "Martyrdom" [075].)
Starting time: 7:00 am
Best documented completion time with no unnecesary loss of life: 9:11 am
Download links
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Game files of both the Original and Special Editions in TAP and TZX formats |
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The game's page on WoS |
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The game's page on Spectrum Computing |
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The game's map on Speccy Screenshot Maps |
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RZX walkthrough of the game showing the best documented completion time |
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RZX walkthrough of the game on the RZX Archive (made with an unduly modified file in which the player does not have to lose a life in "Martyrdom"; showing a completion of the game which is inferior to the best publicly available recording) |
Video
A walkthrough of the game on the JSW Central YouTube channel
A complete screenshot gallery will be presented on this page in the future.
| Back to the list of JSW128 games |